People who bought this also bought...

The Fifth Heart

In 1893 Sherlock Holmes and Henry James come to America together to solve the mystery of the 1885 death of Clover Adams, wife of the esteemed historian Henry Adams--a member of the Adams family that has given the United States two Presidents. Clover's suicide appears to be more than it at first seemed; the suspected foul play may involve matters of national importance.

Carrion Comfort

The Past...Caught behind the lines of Hitler’s Final Solution, Saul Laski is one of the multitudes destined to die in the notorious Chelmno extermination camp. Until he rises to meet his fate and finds himself face-to-face with an evil far older, and far greater, than the Nazis themselves...

The Abominable: A Novel

The year is 1924 and the race to summit the world's highest mountain has been brought to a terrified pause by the shocking disappearance of George Mallory and Sandy Irvine, high on the shoulder of Mt. Everest. By the following year, three climbers - a British poet and veteran of the Great War, a young French Chamonix guide, and an idealistic young American - find a way to take their shot at the top.

Summer of Night

It’s the summer of 1960 and in the small town of Elm Haven, Illinois, five twelve-year-old boys are forging the powerful bonds that a lifetime of change will not break. From sunset bike rides to shaded hiding places in the woods, the boys’ days are marked by all of the secrets and silences of an idyllic childhood. But amid the sun-drenched cornfields, their loyalty will be pitilessly tested.

Flashback

The United States is near total collapse. But 87% of the population doesn't care: they're addicted to flashback, a drug that allows its users to re-experience the best moments of their lives. After ex-detective Nick Bottom's wife died in a car accident, he went under the flash to be with her; he's lost his job, his teenage son, and his livelihood as a result. Nick may be a lost soul, but he's still a good cop, so he is hired to investigate the murder of a top governmental advisor's son.

Darwin's Blade

Darwin Minor travels a dangerous road. A Vietnam veteran turned reluctant expert on interpreting the wreckage of fatal accidents, Darwin uses science and instinct to unravel the real causes of unnatural disasters. He is very, very good at his job.

Black Hills: A Novel

Paha Sapa, a young Sioux warrior, first encounters General George Armstrong Custer as Custer lies dying on the battlefield at Little Bighorn. He believes - as do the holy men of his tribe - that the legendary general's ghost entered him at that moment and will remain with him until Sapa convinces him to leave.

Hard as Nails

Ex-PI Joe Kurtz's survival is on the line when an ambush leaves him badly wounded and his parole officer, Peg O'Toole, clinging to life. Their respective professions have ensured that neither suffers from a shortage of enemies, so narrowing down the suspects isn't easy. But Kurtz knows who's at the head of his list: Angelina Farino Ferrara, the lethal beauty who leads the Farino crime family, and her mob rival, Toma Gonzaga.

Ilium

From the towering heights of Olympos Mons on Mars, the mighty Zeus and his immortal family of gods, goddesses, and demigods look down upon a momentous battle, observing - and often influencing - the legendary exploits of Paris, Achilles, Hector, Odysseus, and the clashing armies of Greece and Troy. Thomas Hockenberry, former 21st-century professor and Iliad scholar, watches as well. It is Hockenberry's duty to observe and report on the Trojan War's progress to the so-called deities who saw fit to return him from the dead.

A Winter Haunting

A once-respected college professor and novelist, Dale Stewart has sabotaged his career and his marriage - and now darkness is closing in on him. In the last hours of Halloween, he has returned to the dying town of Elm Haven, his boyhood home, where he hopes to find peace in isolation.

The Hollow Man

Jeremy Bremen has a secret. All his life he's been cursed with the ability to read minds. He knows the secret thoughts, fears, and desires of others as if they were his own. For years, his wife, Gail, has served as a shield between Jeremy and the burden of this terrible knowledge. But Gail is dying, her mind ebbing slowly away, leaving him vulnerable to the chaotic flood of thought that threatens to sweep away his sanity. Now Jeremy is on the run - from his mind, from his past, from himself - hoping to find peace in isolation.

Hyperion

On the world called Hyperion, beyond the law of the Hegemony of Man, there waits the creature called the Shrike. There are those who worship it. There are those who fear it. And there are those who have vowed to destroy it. In the Valley of the Time Tombs, where huge, brooding structures move backward through time, the Shrike waits for them all.

Hardcase

Once Joe Kurtz needed revenge - and revenge cost him 11 years in Attica prison. Now Kurtz needs a job, and the price is going to be higher. Out of prison, out of touch, Kurtz signs on with the Byron Farino, Don of a Mob family whose son Kurtz had been protecting on the inside. Farino enlists Kurtz's help to track down the Family's missing accountant - a man with too much knowledge of Family business to have on the loose.

Song of Kali

Blood will curdle in Calcutta. In the most crime-ridden city, nightmares become real and evil is defined by frightening occurrences. When an American family finds themselves encircled by the terrors of this land, lurid events befall them and life takes on a new meaning - death. Winner of the World Fantasy Award, Song of Kali will chill the blood and frighten even the most jaded of horror fans.

Children of the Night

In a desolate orphanage in what remains of post-Communist Romania, a desperately ill infant is given the wrong blood transfusion - and flourishes when he's supposed to die. The discovery of his unique immune system may hold the key to the long-awaited cure for cancer and AIDS - and a link to a clan of vampires.

Hard Freeze

Joe Kurtz, former investigator and convicted felon, is on parole. But the years he spent in Attica didn't make his old haunts any safer. Back on the streets of Buffalo, he's already marked by a local Mafia don.

The Collected Stories of Arthur C. Clarke

From early work like "Rescue Party" and "The Lion of Comarre", through classic stories including "The Star", "Earthlight", "The Nine Billion Names of God", and "The Sentinel" (kernel of the later novel and movie 2001: A Space Odyssey), all the way to later work like "A Meeting with Medusa" and "The Hammer of God", this comprehensive short story collection encapsulates one of the great science fiction careers of all time.

Dead Mountain: The Untold True Story of the Dyatlov Pass Incident

In February 1959, a group of nine experienced hikers in the Russian Ural Mountains died mysteriously on an elevation known as Dead Mountain. Eerie aspects of the incident—unexplained violent injuries, signs that they cut open and fled the tent without proper clothing or shoes, a strange final photograph taken by one of the hikers, and elevated levels of radiation found on some of their clothes—have led to decades of speculation over what really happened.

Publisher's Summary

At the height of World War II, the famous writer Ernest Hemingway sought permission from the U.S. government to operate a spy ring out of his house in the Cuban countryside. This much is true... It is the summer of ’42 and FBI agent Joe Lucas has come to Cuba at the behest of J. Edgar Hoover to keep an eye on Hemingway. The great writer has assembled a ragtag spy ring that he calls the “Crook Factory” to play a dangerous game of amateur espionage. But then Lucas and Hemingway, against all the odds, uncover a critical piece of intelligence - and the game turns deadly.

In The Crook Factory, award-winning author Dan Simmons expands a little-known fact into a tour de force of gripping historical suspense set in the sensual Cuban landscape of the early 1940s.

Probably more like 3-1/2 stars, maybe even 4. That's the issue with this book. At times it was very interesting, other times it was confusing. I was not sure why some things happened and when I went back to see if I missed something, I hadn???t, or I missed it again? At the beginning I found myself going back so much I put it on hold and got another book so I could listen to it will I worked on a home project. I waited until I could focus more to finish this one. I wasn???t sure how much of this was fiction or reality either. In the end the author explains some of that in the epilogue, but I might have enjoyed the book more if the prologue revealed a bit more. Others might not see this as an issue and I think many people will really like this book. It just missed the mark for me a bit. That said I did like many of the characters in the book, for sure the main character Joe Lucas, and the portrayal or Ernest Hemingway. The voice for Hemingway was a bit whinny and irritating at times, which does not fit the profile, but that was a minor issue. If you like stories that delve into some of the unknown aspects of WWII and are curious about Hemingway himself, you???ll probably enjoy this book. Even at 3-1/2 stars it was not a wasted credit. Just not a big winner for me.

This strays from my normal choice of books and i knew Hemingway only as a mysterious author who wrote some stuff people seemed to like, enjoyed drinking, hunting and fishing then killed himself. Dan Simmons is quickly becoming one of my favorite authors. Every book i have read is, in my opinion, well written and well researched. Again he masterfully weaves fact and fiction. I did not have high hopes for this for this and only picked it up as my list of books waned. But i was drawn into the story of nazi spies, undercover agents, shootouts, political intrigue and adventure. The story was well performed by a narrator who i didn't recognize but i thought did a great job. This book will be a great choice for people interested in the time period, spies, Hemingway, a good book or, like me, a big fan of Dan Simmons. I really don't have anything negative to say about this book or presentation. The only reason for not giving a higher score was that i enjoyed the subject matter of Simmons' other books better. Lastly i want to say again Dan Simmons is awesome. I first read Song of Kali, which was dark and great, then moved on to others. Drood, The Terror, The Abominable, The Fifth Heart and now The Crook Factory have all been fantastic. Consistently good enough that i felt compelled to write this, my first review.

Decent reader, does well with tone, expression, and pacing. However, there are numerous situations in the book where the narrator needs to voice either good Spanish or bad Spanish, and he only has bad Spanish. And I found his voices for the two Hemmingway boys to be irritating, and got in the way of the story.

So this is a good read, but the choice of narrator makes it a less-good listen.

well written and researched, great story, from the first chapter till the last.

Did the plot keep you on the edge of your seat? How?

Yes, knowing nothing of Ernest Hemmingway's life, it was an educational and interesting story. while some was obvious speculation on Simmon's part. You the listener could believe such a great story was possible.Loved the book, was not disappointed, listened to it twice...

Reasonably well done - It is hard for this reader to like Hemingway in any part of his life. I kept having the feeling that this story would have been much more interesting if the author had been forthcoming about his day-to-day character - he was a great seeker of fame.

Dan Simmons does a superb job of weaving kernels of history into a splendid novel of intrigue. Hemingway, J. Edgar Hoover, Ian Fleming, Ingrid Bergman, Marlena Dietrich, Nazis, spies, Havana street urchins, even a young JFK ... they're all here!

Would you recommend The Crook Factory to your friends? Why or why not?

While the author does a good job of setting the tone and giving historical background, he goes on waaaay too many tangents. He feels he needs to give the back-story to just about every historical detail and character; even to the point of explaining in excruciating detail how cigars are made, just because at one point for about 10 minutes in the story the characters find themselves in a cigar rolling factory. These detours into minutia are a huge detractor; and Mr. Simmons should avail himself to the services of a talented editor to separate the wheat from the chaff. There are a few technical and historical errors, but none that are distracting.

What about Patrick Lawlor’s performance did you like?

Patrick Lawlor's performance is what saves this audio book! His characterizations, accents, inflections are top rate. He is one of those narrators where you often have to remind yourself that there is really only one person reading this book, rather than a cast of characters like an old radio show. Brav-OH!!

Any additional comments?

I will certainly be interested in taking a look at any other books in the historical novel genre that Mr. Simmons may have to offer -- with the hope they are better edited. I will definitely be interested in other books read by Mr. Lawlor.